A symbolic first stone has just been placed for the new Aircelle (Safran) facility in Hamburg, Germany, which will assemble and deliver nacelles on Airbus A320neo jetliners equipped with CFM International LEAP-1A jet engines.

Located at Hamburg Hausbruch, this 8,000-square-meter installation - situated on a 20,000-square-meter site - will handle the final steps in Aircelle's full industrial responsibility for the A320neo nacelles: integration on the engine, followed by delivery to Airbus' A320 assembly lines in Hamburg.

"This new facility is another milestone for our company's development as a world-leading supplier of engine nacelles," said Aircelle Chairman and CEO Martin Sion. "It will be an asset in our long term relationship with Airbus."

To be fully operational in 2016, Hamburg will become Aircelle's third integration site - joining Toulouse, France (for nacelles that equip the Airbus A380 and A330 airliners, as well as Dassault Falcon 7X business aircraft), and Komsomolsk, Russia (for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet).

Aircelle will be applying its significant expertise in lean processes at Hamburg to meet Airbus' rapid-paced production ramp-up for A320neo jetliners - the new engine option versions of its best-selling A320 aircraft family.

The A320neo program builds on Aircelle's expertise in a full variety of aircraft programs, including the A320ceo (current engine option) - for which the company has supplied more than 7,000 thrust reversers for CFM56 engines, with a record 533 produced in 2013.